ear X-tacy Holiday Gift Guide Out Now
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
Searching for the perfect present for someone (or for yourself)? Head to ear X-tacy and pick up their 2008 Holiday Gift Guide. Happy Holidays!
Posts Tagged ‘2008’
Thanks for Thinking of Us!
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
Thanks a ton for your votes in LEO’s 2008 Readers’ Choice Awards. We didn’t even know we were nominated, or we would have voted for ourselves. We won best Local Arts Blog and came in third in the News and Entertainment categories. Next year we are shooting for an Oscar. Thanks again for your support.
-Backseat Sandbar
REVIEW: Forecastle Day 2 – All We Seabees, Go Van Gogh, The Seedy Seeds, Pomegranates, DW Box and One Long Song, Margot & the Nuclear So & So's, Unwed Sailor, Film School, Prizzy Prizzy Please
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
For me, Saturday was THE day to be at Forecastle. The schedule for Saturday was thrown off for a half hour due to the Morning State canceling last minute, so the day started off with All We Seabees on the small stage, and Go Van Gogh took a later spot on the main stage. One of the most unexpected treats of the day however, was the Seedy Seeds from Cincinnati. Mixing a very cute kind of folk pop with Jenny Lewis-like vocals and a sometimes electro-pop feel thanks to some prerecorded beats, the Seedy Seeds put on a great show. While it always sort of puts me off to hear prerecorded sounds like that, combining electro dance music with banjos is going to make me smile no matter how they go about doing it. The best example of this was the dance song “spin spin spin, move to the front, slide to the left, hey hey, repeat repeat repeat” and it was incredible.
Next up was the Pomegranates, with their perfect blend of summer pop. Very preppy, apart from the “It’s Mr. Weenie Time” shirt, these kids put on an incredible show that was so much fun to watch. Next up, DW Box and the One Long Song showed why people call her one of the most talented musicians in Louisville. On stage were 2 violins, keys by Korgenbutz from Ultrapulverize, 2 guitars, the bassist from The Fervor, 1.5 drums, one of which was played by Kevin Ratterman of Wax Fang, and strings, putting together a 70s inspired psych pop jam. Margot & the Nuclear So & So’s put on exactly the kind of show I wanted to see out of them. My first time seeing them, they essentially played a perfect set.
One of my favorite bands of the weekend, Unwed Sailor was up next. I met unwed Sailor late last year when they put on an incredible show at the Nachbar. While I really enjoyed this set, I wasn’t moved by it the way I was the first time, largely because the first time was dominated by the keys of Brooks Tipton, who was on tour with his other band Bear Colony (a Radiohead-like band with the most moving back story you will ever hear) and wasn’t able to make it. I really enjoyed the show, but adding a layer of keys on top of it would have made this performance one of the best of Forecastle.
After that, Film School, from San Francisco, hit the main stage and played a good set for the time slot. I was set for something special due to the number of people that told me they were amazing live and was simply satisfied, not amazed. Their style has been described as shoegaze and highly textured space pop, culminating as a sonic waves of reverb and loops. After seeing Mono rock the reverb at Terrastock, it is hard for me to be fair. I would love to see them in a smaller venue at midnight to get a better feel for what they can offer. Prizzy Prizzy Please, out of Bloomington, played next and was one of the most energy filled sets of the day. I didn’t know what to expect, so when I saw frontman, Mark Pallman, break out the horn to give his speeding vocals a rest, I took an immediate lean on the speaker. Then my attention was stolen by drummer, Dan Buescher. In a band of maniacs, Dan was the ring leader. He was out of his stool more than he was in it and in one instance he missed the stool on his way down after a sky high jump and hit the floor. Impressively, this didn’t stop him from missing a beat (well, maybe one). This show was truly a treat on the East Stage.
**MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEO** (more…)
2008 All-Star PHT Band @ PHT – 7/3
Monday, June 30th, 2008
Phoenix Hill Tavern (down on Baxter) has announced the roster for the 2008 All-Star Band. This event has been a PHT tradition for years and years. It is my understanding that you vote for who you want to be in the band and that band gets together for a one and done performance. I’m not sure if there was a ballot or not, but it seems that the only members of bands that play there on a regular basis made the cut. Regardless, if you like PHT and the bands who play there, you should love this event. This year, the All-Star band will be playing on July 3rd at 8pm. Kevin Crigler’s Naked Garden will open. Tickets to the show will cost you $6 bucks. Here are the members of the band…
If you happen to miss this show Big Rock Show will be playing at PHT on August 2nd. Blowfly will be playing at PHT on July 11th and 12th and August 8th and 9th. Speed of Sound will be playing July 5th, 25th and 26th and August 22nd and 23rd. XS will be playing there on July 16th and August 1st and 2nd.
UPDATE: It was brought to my attention that you will actually have to go to PHT to see the show. There is, however, an off chance that there will be a bikini contest .
Previous winner’s below the break…
Top Album Releases: April 2008
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
Nick’s Top
- Man Man: Rabbit Habits (sample)
- Flight Of The Conchords: Flight Of The Conchords (sample)
- Foals: Antidotes (sample)
- M83: Saturdays = Youth (sample)
- Phantom Planet: Raise the Dead (sample)
- Santogold: Santogold (sample)
- Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: Pershing (sample)
- Tapes ‘n Tapes: Walk It Off (sample)
Biggest Disappointment: Peter Moren: The Last Tycoon
Most Interesting: Blind Melon: For My Friends (What is next?)
Cory’s Top
- Man Man: Rabbit Habits (sample)
- Foals: Antidotes (sample)
- Old Haunts: Poisonous Time (sample)
- Sun Kil Moon: April (sample)
- Santogold: Santogold (sample)
- Unwed Sailor: Little Wars (sample)
- Jonathan Richman: Because Her Beauty Is Raw & Wild (sample)
Honorable Mentions
Eric Avery: Help Wanted
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: Pershing (sample)
Client: Untitled Remix
Bryan Scary: Flight of the Knife
The Black Keys: Attack & Release
2008 List Archive
TOP MARCH
TOP FEBRUARY
TOP JANUARY
See a comprehensive list of April 2008 album releases below the break:
Forecastle Line-up Finalized: Disco Biscuits, The Photographic and More Added!
Friday, April 25th, 2008
With three months to go before the Forecastle Festival in Louisville, the line-up is finalized and is twice as big as last year’s fest!! We have been reporting confirmed bands for the fest as we have heard about them. The updates that I see are Disco Biscuits, The Del McCoury Band, Z-Trip, The Photographic, Delvin & Darko of Spank Rock, Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, and All We Seabees. This is on top of an already amazing line-up including Method Man, Dr. Dog, Catfish Haven, Ferdinand Fox, The Seedy Seeds, Snowden, Unwed Sailor and a TON MORE. The line-up speaks for itself, this festival is going to be amazing! The dates for this year’s Forecastle are July 25-27th. For more about the event, check out an interview we did with JK back in February, as well as the official website for Forecastle 2008.
You can get your tickets starting next Wednesday, April 30th at Ear x-tacy.
See below for the complete line-up and all the festival has to offer…
Thunder Over Louisville 2008
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Despite fears of horrible weather, $30 parking spaces, absurd wind, freezing cold and an overcrowded commute, Thunder over Louisville 2008 was an unabashed success. Every few years you see highs and lows as far as the show goes, and I think by most all accounts this year was a high. The synchronization with the music was the best I’ve seen. While the theme was “Out of This World”, the music felt a little miscellaneous and not really worth comment. But who goes to Thunder to listen to music? The synchronization would have been impressive regardless of the music playing.
If you watched closely, you would notice that the wind played a pretty big factor in the performance as some of the explosions seemed to come out a little lopsided. Most notably, during the finale, the ever-popular waterfall from the 3rd Street Bridge had all of its beauty sucked directly below the bridge rather than falling straight down to the water. I’m curious as to how it would have looked from the other side of the bridge, down-wind from where I was. As you can see from my photos, I had (for the first time) particularly good seating arrangement where it was warm and the view was good.
More pics below the break…
Top Album Releases: March 2008
Monday, March 31st, 2008 
Nick’s Top
- Cassettes Won’t Listen – Small-Time Machine EP (sample)
- Hercules and Love Affair-Hercules and Love Affair (sample)
- Crystal Castles- Crystal Castles
- The Photographic- Pictures of a Changing World
- Destroyer – Trouble in Dreams
- What Made Milwaukee Famous – What Doesn’t Kill Us (sample)
Guilty Pleasure: The United States of America – These are Good Times People (sample)
Cory’s Top
- Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (Sample)(buy)
- Why? – Alopecia (Sample)
- Destroyer – Trouble In Dreams (Sample)
- The Photographic – Pictures of a Changing World (Sample)
I checked out some other strong albums, including These United States, Devotchka, The Kills, The LK….but the albums above were just too good & wouldn’t share iPod space with them…
Other March 2008 Releases (below the break)…
March Music Madness @ We Listen for You
Sunday, March 16th, 2008
The crew over at We Listen for You has put together a pretty interesting challenge that they are calling “March Music Madness.” While millions of people are filling out their NCAA Basketball brackets, We Listen For You has made their own bracket, filled with 64 bands/solo artists ranging from Radiohead (a #1 seed) to The Streets (a #16 seed). The rules are all laid out on their page, but basically each reader emails WLFY fills out their bracket HERE and their selections for first round winners are sent to be complied by WLFY. 1 Vote = 1 Point. Each reader is also given one 2-pointer and one 3-pointer per round, that way you can really throw some weight behind your favorite band. They tally the points, release the winners and the process is repeated the following round. You get the idea. Good luck and may the best band win.
First round voting is already open and will end Wednesday night at 11:59pm CST.
Check out the bracket and get all the rules and contact info HERE.
Initial Pitchfork Fest 2008 Schedule
Monday, March 10th, 2008
My brother runs We Listen For You in Chicago and came across an article on Radio Free Chicago that announced the initial Pitchfork 2008 line-up (July 18, 19, 20). That link has since been taken down, but here are the bands that were listed (needless to say, a lot more bands will be added)…
FROM RADIO FREE CHICAGO:
Friday, July 18, 2008
Pitchfork Music Festival and All Tomorrow’s Parties Present
“Don’t Look Back”
Featuring
Public Enemy Performing “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Animal Collective
!!!
Vampire Weekend
Dizzee Rascal
No Age
Sally Shapiro
Fleet Foxes
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Spiritualized
M. Ward
Boris
Extra Golden
El Guincho
UPDATE: Pitchfork has since confirmed that this info is correct. Well done Zach.
Ticket Info:
Tickets go on sale this Wednesday, March 12 at 12 p.m. CDT. Three-day passes are $65, two-day passes for Saturday and Sunday are $50, and individual day passes cost $30. Not bad at all.
The Instruction…Listen, Learn, Love.
Saturday, March 1st, 2008“Hello Darlin’, Where are you going with my shotgun?”
The Instruction is a band from right here in Louisville. You may have seen them around town playing random live shows, but here is your chance to check out a few songs and a music video. They are extremely talented and have a great sound, ala The Pixies/Mars Volta. The next chance you will have to see them live is on March 30th at Headliner’s for the Battle of the Bands. Tix are $8 bucks and you can get one in advance from the band here (the more tix they sell, the better slot they get at the show). Here are our favorite songs from their demo, Failure By Design:
The Instruction- Mayday
The Instruction- Change in the Merge
The Instruction- Hello Darlin’
Music Video: The Instruction- “Mayday”
OSCAR RESULTS (Hansard & Irglova from Once Win Best Song)
Monday, February 25th, 2008
The Oscars were on tonight and, in case you missed it, here are the winners (in green). I made my guesses a while ago and they are in bold (oh well, this is a music blog).
Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Best Actor
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In The Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno
Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Ruby Dee, American Ganster
Saorise Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, The Assassination Of Jesse James
Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton
Director
Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Jason Reitman, “Juno”
Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”
Foreign Film
“Beaufort,” Israel
“The Counterfeiters,” Austria
“Katyn,” Poland
“Mongol” Kazakhstan (most glorious movie film)
“12,” Russia.
Adapted Screenplay
Christopher Hampton, “Atonement”
Sarah Polley, “Away from Her”
Ronald Harwood, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood.”
Original Screenplay
Diablo Cody, “Juno” (former exotic dancer)
Nancy Oliver, “Lars and the Real Girl”
Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”
Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, “Ratatouille”
Tamara Jenkins, “The Savages.”
Best Song (we didn’t pick this category, but this song beats the hell out of the Enchanted songs it was up against)…
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova- Falling Slowly (from Once Soundtrack)
“make art”
You can see the two live in concert at The Brown, here in Louisville, on May 12th. Tickets are $30-40 bucks, but they are Oscar winners. For more info on this show, go here.
Here is their performance at tonight’s Oscars (what an amazing song!)
N.E.R.D Adds Louisville's CityBlock to Tour, 3/24
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
We posted earlier that N.E.R.D was doing some pre-Glow in the Dark shows and that they were skipping KY on both tours, but stopping by Cincinnati. Now, they are coming to Louisville also. We posted this tour a while ago and the March 24th date was scheduled for Asheville, North Carolina. Fortunately for us, N.E.R.D is now scheduled to stop by City Block in Louisville on that date (thank you Production Simple). The show costs $20 bucks and starts at 8pm. It is an 18+ event. Tickets go on sale this Friday, Feb. 22 @ 10am. You can get your tix at the Coyote’s Box Office, www.ticketmaster.com, or by calling (502) 361-3100.
N.E.R.D- Everyone Nose (from N.3.R.D)
Check out the tour schedule and N.E.R.D Bio Below the break…
Do You Know The Band STAND UP, SIT DOWN?
Monday, February 18th, 2008
MYSTERY OF THE WEEK: I’m in search of any information on a band, apparently from Louisville, named Stand Up, Sit Down. Our friends up at We Listen For You put us on to their album, The Power Hour (2008?), and the few songs that I’ve listened to are GREAT. Some of the song titles include, “Baxter,” “Sluggers,” “Makers Misses the Mark,” and “KY.” I’ve done every internet search you can think of and came up empty. I really want to get my hands on a copy of their album and see them live. It will be really ironic if they turn out to be some old rock band from Georgia, but I think this is new stuff. If you know…give us the details and we will be forever grateful (post in the comments or contact us here).
Kanye Reveals All Tour Dates…Stops in Cincy
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
It looks like my prediction was correct, and Cincy (5/23) is going to be as close as Kanye West and the Glow in the Dark Tour will come to Louisville.
It will “co-star” Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D. and Rihanna. There are also some rumors that Common will be at a few stops on the tour. The tour should run from late spring to early fall of 2008. I’ll post more tour dates as soon as they are released. I’m guessing Chicago may be as close as it gets; perhaps Cincy. Louisville Gardens? He has already toured with his newest album, Graduation, for a short bit in Oct. and Nov. of last year. His US stops included Nashville, Philly, Boston and Miami.
Kanye West- Stronger
Kanye West- The Good Life
Lupe Fiasco- Go Go Gadget Flow
Tour Dates To Be Released SOON…
Here are the tour dates according to Ticketmaster (you can guarantee there will be a ton more) Only two dates specifically mention the “Glow in the Dark Tour,” but given previous tour info, it is fair to assume that they are all part of the same tour (you would think).
COMPLETE TOUR DATES
4.16.08 Seattle, WA Key Arena
4.18.08 Sacramento, CA Arco Arena
4.19.08 San Jose, CA HP Pavillion
4.20.08 San Diego, CA Sports Arena
4.21.08 Los Angeles, CA Nokia
4.24.08 Tuscon, AZ McKale Aud
4.25.08 Las Vegas, NV Red Rocks
4.26.08 Albuquerque, NM Journal
4.27.08 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
4.29.08 Oklahoma City, OK Ford Center
4.30.08 Austin, TX Frank Irwin Center
5.1.08 Dallas, TX Superpages.com Center
5.2.08 Houston, TX Pavillion
5.4.08 Atlanta, GA Gwinette Arena
5.5.08 Tampa, FL Ford Amphitheater
5.6.08 West PB, FL Sound Advice
5.8.08 Charlotte, NC Verizon
5.9.08 Raleigh, NC Walnut Creek
5.10.08 Washington D.C. Nissan
5.11.08 VA Beach, VA Verizon Wireless
5.13.08 New York, NY MSG
5.15.08 Boston, MA Tweeter
5.16.08 Hartford, CT Meadows
5.17.08 Philadelphia, PA Susquehanna Center
5.18.08 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavillion
5.20.08 Montreal Bell Center
5.21.08 Toronto Molson Center
5.22.08 Detroit, MI Palace
5.23.08 Chicago, IL United Center
5.24.08 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
5.27.08 Saskatoon Credit Union Center
5.29.08 Edmonton Rexall Place
5.30.08 Calgary Saddledome
June 2008
2 – Vancouver, British Columbia – GM Place
3 – Portland, OR – Rose Garden
5 – Reno, NV – Reno Events Center
6 – San Jose, CA – HP Pavilion
7 – Los Angeles, CA – Staples Center
8 – Glendale, AZ – Jobing.com Arena
9 – West Valley City, UT – E Center
11 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center
12 – Moline, IL – i wireless Center
13 – Cincinnati, OH – US Bank Arena
14 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo
